Memorial
J Cornwell VC
Current Location
Jack Cornwell House, Rhode Moorhouse Court, off Green Lanes, Morden, Merton, Greater London, SM4 5NR, England
OS Grid Reference
TQ 25325 67209
Names listed on this memorial
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- Type of Memorial
- Memorial homes / Alms houses
- WMR Reference Number
- 85956
- Description
- Comprises: 1 x 2 bedroomed wheelchair adapted flat/bungalow (up to 4 people) At the Battle of Jutland (31st May – 1st June 1916) when the British Grand Fleet clashed with the German High Fleet, Boy (First Class) Jack Cornwell VC was the sight-setter on HMS Chester’s front 5.5-inch gun turret, with the job of taking orders from fire control and applying the necessary range corrections to the gun. At 5.40 pm on the 31st the ship came under heavy fire from four German Light Cruisers and was hit seventeen times in a few minutes. 30 men were killed and 46 wounded; amongst the casualties were the entire crew of the forward 5.5-inch turret. After the shock of the battle only one figure, not yet sixteen and a half years old and mortally wounded, remained standing by the turret. His Commanding Officer, in a letter to Cornwell’s mother, later wrote: “His devotion to duty was an example to all of us …He remained steadily at his most exposed post on the gun, waiting for orders. His gun would not bear on the enemy; all but two of the ten crew were killed or wounded, and he was the only one who was in such an exposed position. But he felt he might be needed and indeed he might have been; so he stayed there, standing and waiting, under heavy fire, with just his own brave heart, and God’s help to support him”. Jack Cornwell survived and was landed by the badly damaged HMS Chester at Grimsby but died from his injuries in the local hospital on 2 June 1916. He was later posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross which his mother collected from King George V at Buckingham Palace in November 1916. His bravery and devotion to duty sparked the public’s imagination and he became known as the “boy hero of Jutland”.
- Inscription
- JACK CORNWELL HOUSE
- War
- First World War (1914-1918)
- Number Commemorated
- 1
- Died
- 1
- Information shown
- surname, forename
- Number Commemorated
- 1
- Died
- 1
- Information shown
- surname, forename
Components
- Building
Condition: Good